Oct. 4, 2023 – EDINBURGH, Scotland. – For more than two decades, Aviagen® and JAS Worldwide have maintained a close alliance, united in their goal to ensure the consistent availability of healthy breeding birds to poultry producers worldwide, while prioritizing bird welfare. Leveraging their extensive expertise in international freight forwarding and logistics, throughout the years JAS Worldwide has facilitated the careful shipment of Aviagen day-old chicks to destinations across the globe. Aviagen has trained JAS colleagues to handle their chicks with care and compassion, palletizing and preparing them for their journey, while making sure their needs are looked after. 

As another significant stride toward advancing bird welfare during the crucial journey from breeder to producer, JAS recently opened two new state-of-the-art chick holding rooms within its London Heathrow Warehouse Holding Facility. These specialized spaces serve as a temporary home for chicks before their departure. Aviagen’s global veterinary team worked hand in hand with JAS to meticulously design the new rooms at Heathrow with bird well-being in mind. Each room is equipped with digital-panel controls, specially calibrated to maintain the perfect balance of temperature, humidity, and ventilation. These measures are also essential to ensure optimal biosecurity. 

Diane Hartjes, Aviagen’s Global Director, Export, Logistics, and Trade Compliance, said, “The inauguration of these advanced holding rooms highlights the shared dedication of Aviagen and JAS to consistently enhance bird welfare, but also secure the supply of robust breeding stock to producers across the world, enhancing their ability to feed the world with nutritious, versatile, and sustainable chicken meat. The enduring 20-year relationship between Aviagen and JAS underscores a steadfast commitment to transparency, communication and engagement with our export allies and all members of the global poultry value chain.” 

Carlo Rebuffi, JAS Worldwide’s Live Animal Manager and Aviagen Global Account Manager, “The creation of these two rooms is another milestone in the collaborative relationship between Aviagen and JAS Worldwide. We constantly strive to get closer to perfection at handling this very valuable and sensitive cargo. Our goal is to help Aviagen safely and securely deliver chicks to their destination, and we are proud to contribute to feeding the world.” 

Learn more about this remarkable development by watching our new video. 

Since the beginning of the first Covid-19 wave, freight forwarders in the Netherlands faced issues with finding space within limited flights capacities from and to Amsterdam. JAS Amsterdam dedicated themselves to be flexible and creative to find the best solutions for their clients. Utilizing our extended JAS network and with the help of other offices in Europe like JAS Frankfurt, have arranged a weekly charter to provide our clients with the service they required throughout these difficult times.

One of our clients, Aviagen Limited, for whom JAS AMS builds specialty aircraft pallets containing day-old chicks, had a peak in shipments during the first half of the year. During that period, JAS Amsterdam handled more than 10,000 boxes and over 700,000-day-old chicks. All served with options through the BENELUX region.

This peak was almost parallel with the peak of Covid-19. The JAS Amsterdam team faced two major challenges. First, to find the required space, and second, to travel within the region while the travel restrictions were the strictest. Negotiations were taking place on a continuous basis with all airlines that are able to handle life animals such as day-old chicks.

In the middle of the restrictions in March, JAS had our first shipment for this peak from Belgium, Liege airport. JAS AMS went with a team to build up the ULD’s with one purpose, to deliver this shipment safely, and in time.

A couple of days later, the JAS team had to head to the south of the Netherlands for a full charter flight from Maastricht (MST), The Netherlands to Abidjan (ABJ), Côte d’Ivoire. This flight contained 7 ULD positions that were built into a Boeing 737F. 749 boxes and over 50.000 chicks. Which was again, safely delivered to the client.

This marked the beginning of a successful period, in which the JAS team made the impossible possible, and went above and beyond to fulfil our responsibility to our client. Today we continue these efforts through a wave of the avian influenza affecting the region and through the second wave of the pandemic. Nevertheless, we will continue providing the support and dedication our clients require. At JAS, people make the difference!

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